Nonstop flight route between Mmabatho, South Africa and Mountain View, California, United States:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from MBD to NUQ:
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- About this route
- MBD Airport Information
- NUQ Airport Information
- Facts about MBD
- Facts about NUQ
- Map of Nearest Airports to MBD
- List of Nearest Airports to MBD
- Map of Furthest Airports from MBD
- List of Furthest Airports from MBD
- Map of Nearest Airports to NUQ
- List of Nearest Airports to NUQ
- Map of Furthest Airports from NUQ
- List of Furthest Airports from NUQ
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Mafikeng Airport (MBD), Mmabatho, South Africa and Moffett Federal Airfield (NUQ), Mountain View, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 10,381 miles (or 16,707 kilometers).
A Great Circle is the shortest distance between 2 points on a sphere. Because most world maps are flat (but the Earth is round), the route of the shortest distance between 2 points on the Earth will often appear curved when viewed on a flat map, especially for long distances. If you were to simply draw a straight line on a flat map and measure a very long distance, it would likely be much further than if you were to lay a string between those two points on a globe. Because of the large distance between Mafikeng Airport and Moffett Federal Airfield, the route shown on this map most likely appears curved because of this reason.
Try it at home! Get a globe and tightly lay a string between Mafikeng Airport and Moffett Federal Airfield. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | MBD / FAMM |
Airport Names: |
|
Location: | Mmabatho, South Africa |
GPS Coordinates: | 25°48'27"S by 25°32'39"E |
Area Served: | Mafikeng, South Africa |
Operator/Owner: | Government |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 4181 feet (1,274 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from MBD |
More Information: | MBD Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | NUQ / KNUQ |
Airport Name: | Moffett Federal Airfield |
Location: | Mountain View, California, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 37°24'53"N by 122°2'53"W |
Operator/Owner: | NASA Ames Research Center |
Airport Type: | Private |
Elevation: | 32 feet (10 meters) |
# of Runways: | 2 |
View all routes: | Routes from NUQ |
More Information: | NUQ Maps & Info |
Facts about Mafikeng Airport (MBD):
- Mafikeng Airport (MBD) currently has only 1 runway.
- The furthest airport from Mafikeng Airport (MBD) is Kalaupapa Airport (LUP), which is nearly antipodal to Mafikeng Airport (meaning Mafikeng Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Kalaupapa Airport), and is located 12,081 miles (19,443 kilometers) away in Kalaupapa, Hawaii, United States.
- In addition to being known as "Mafikeng Airport", another name for MBD is "Mmabatho Airport".
- The closest airport to Mafikeng Airport (MBD) is Lobatse Airport (LOQ), which is located 43 miles (70 kilometers) NNE of MBD.
- Because of Mafikeng Airport's high elevation of 4,181 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at MBD. Combined with a high temperature, this could make MBD a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
Facts about Moffett Federal Airfield (NUQ):
- The closest airport to Moffett Federal Airfield (NUQ) is Palo Alto Airport of Santa Clara County (PAO), which is located only 5 miles (8 kilometers) NW of NUQ.
- In 1931, the city of Sunnyvale acquired a 1,000 acres parcel of farmland bordering San Francisco Bay, paid for with nearly $480,000 raised by the citizens of Santa Clara County, then "sold" the parcel for $1 to the US government as a home base for the Navy airship USS Macon.
- In April 2011, the exterior panels began coming down, starting at the top.
- The furthest airport from Moffett Federal Airfield (NUQ) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 11,365 miles (18,290 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
- Moffett Federal Airfield (NUQ) has 2 runways.
- Because of Moffett Federal Airfield's relatively low elevation of 32 feet, planes can take off or land at Moffett Federal Airfield at a lower air speed than at airports located at a higher elevation. This is because the air density is higher closer to sea level than it would otherwise be at higher elevations.
- Moffett Federal Airfield has occasional air traffic, with an average of 5-10 flights landing per day.
- Post-Cold War defense cutbacks and related Base Realignment and Closure actions in the 1990s identified NAS Moffett Field for closure.